QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 5.6mww

94 km SW of Tamarindo, Costa Rica

· 8.0 km deep · released about 3.8 kilotons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 5.6 (mww)
Depth
8.0 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 hours ago

This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.8 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 45× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 5.6 about 3.8 kilotons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 7,900× more

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 9.7526, -86.5063. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

Revisions

USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.

What changedFromToWhen
felt reports23
measured intensity3.963.83
location84 km SW of Tamarindo, Costa Rica94 km SW of Tamarindo, Costa Rica
longitude-86.44-86.51
latitude9.819.75
depth108
felt reports12
measured intensity3.933.96
impact alertnot reportedgreen
reported intensitynot reported2
felt reportsnot reported1
measured intensitynot reported3.93

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.